I. Incentive Tools

Traditionally, punishments in the American criminal justice system were limited to two extreme options: imprisonment and probation. Today, judges and parole board have a growing array of incentive tools at their disposal, including day-reporting programs, and detention centers. The tools that are more restrictive than standard probation yet less restrictive than prison often are called intermediate or graduated sanctions.

Many professionals find it useful to picture the spectrum of sanctions as a ladder or staircase that climbs from the lowest level of probation supervision, through the various intermediate sanctions, to state prison at the top. The closer to the top, the greater level of monitoring through information tools and the greater restrictions on liberty through sanction tools. Several of the information tools, especially position monitoring devices, double as sanction tools since they restrict offenders' movement.